Diamond Princess

Philip M. Haggerty

Age: 72

Occupation:Retired City Attorney

Number of Cruises: 14

Cruise Line: Princess

Ship: Diamond Princess

Sailing Date: November 13th, 2004

Itinerary: Mexican Riviera

My name is Phil Haggerty and my wife is Edith Goble. I am a retired city
attorney and Edith is a homemaker and retired health services provider.
This would be our fourteenth cruise and third on a Princess ship. We have
sailed the Caribbean on Galaxy; on the defunct Commodore Lines’ Enchanted
Isle; and on Norwegian Sun and HAL’s ms Veendam. We cruised on Regal
Princess to the Baltic and Sun Princess to Alaska. We took Carnival’s
Elation to the Mexican Riviera and Celebrity’s Infinity both through the
Panama Canal and to Hawaii. In 2003 we did the Mediterranean on Infinity’s
sister ship Millennium. Our most adventuresome trip was around Cape Horn
from Santiago to Buenos Aires on Celebrity’s Mercury. This past May we did
a Transatlantic repositioning cruise on Celebrity’s Galaxy from Baltimore
to Rome. All of these cruises except the first two, Carnival’s Elation
cruise and the Enchanted Isle trip; can be found on reviews on this site.
Why This Cruise?

In December 2003 we sailed to and around Hawaii on Celebrity’s Infinity.
We had enjoyed the islands so much we planned on doing this again and
booked on Norwegian Cruise Line’s Pride of Aloha. This ship had been
placed under American registry so that it could, without violating the
Jones Act, sail to all American ports around the Islands without a Fanning
Island, Republic of Kiribati, side trip. However the reviews of this
ship’s cruises were so bad that we canceled. We were feeling cruise
deprived (although we are nonetheless doing a Hawaii trip by air next
week) so when we got a Princess ad with this trip, we thought, why not? We
had done this Mexican Riviera trip for our very first cruise, on
Carnival’s Elation, in 1999, and since Diamond Princess was virtually a
brand new ship, having first sailed this past March, and the pricing was
reasonable, we signed up.
The Itinerary

This was the traditional, middle length, seven day Mexican Riviera cruise
to Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas. There are now short
cruises of four days, stopping at Ensenada, about 60 miles south of San
Diego, and longer trips that take in Acapulco, Ixtapa and similar ports.
We started from Los Angeles with two sea days, then three port days and
then one final sea day, leaving and returning on Saturday.
Review Format - What Is Covered and What Is Not

I suppose there are people who call their travel agents, tell them to book
a cruise, and do nothing until the day before embarkation when they pack
and take off. We like to plan a lot, and feel that this is part of the fun
of cruising. So we divide the review into pre-embarkation planning,
getting to the ship; the cruise proper, port visits, and debarkation,
followed by an overall picture of how we liked it, and the reasons for our
feelings. Since we do not gamble, we will not review the Casino. We do not
use the spa facilities, although Edith did attend stretch classes. We
can’t rate the service or comfort of the poolside deck lounge area either.
We do not play trivia games or newlywed games. If I tried Karaoke with my
singing voice, the Captain would signal for another lifeboat drill, or
perhaps just abandon ship.
Pre-planning Any Cruise

If you have questions about any ship or cruise line, you can get a review
of most ships and cruise lines in the “Complete Guide to Cruising & Cruise
Ships 2004” Douglas Ward; Berlitz Publishing Co.; the “Unofficial Guide to
Cruises; 8th Edition”; Kay Showker and Bob Sehlinger; Wiley Publishing Co.
and “Stern‘s Guide to Cruise Vacations 2004“; Steven B. Stern, 13th ed.
Pelican Publishing Co. You can find (or order) these at most large
bookstores such as Borders or Barnes and Noble. I know the Berlitz 2005
edition is listed for release. All three of these books will also provide
a wealth of detailed information on cruising. Since itineraries are
subject to change, and not set much more than a year in advance, you
should go to the cruise lines’ websites to get the correct itineraries and
dates. You then can check with your travel agent to see the brochures
which will give you a schematic of the ships’ layouts and cabin locations.
In many cases you can order brochures directly from the cruise lines, but
these brochures for the major lines cover separate specific destination
areas, and not the entire cruise line repertory in one brochure. (Small
lines with few ships are an exception.) The pricing options vary widely.
Every line has an early booking discount; many offer specials in the last
days before sailing if you want to take a chance; and there are a variety
of “specials” and package deals available through various travel agencies.
No one recommends that you do your booking through the net; having your
travel agent do the actual talking to the booking clerks is best; but the
net can provide a lot of information. Some people make the itinerary the
prime factor, some the cruise line or specific ship, and others are
controlled by time constraints and the availability of cruises within
their budget range. Like many people, we consider the itinerary first, and
then look at the cruise line and date options.
Tour Preparation

Preparation was fairly minimal for this cruise. Not only had we done it
before, but we had spent a week at a time share in Puerto Vallarta the
year following our cruise. We also had stopped in Cabo San Lucas on our
Infinity voyage though the Canal. where we actually had a full day instead
of being limited by the 2:00 P.M. departure on both the Carnival and this
cruise. We had done a high country tour on our last Mazatlan cruise, so
this time we noted a bird watching estuary tour in the Princess excursion
brochure and purchased this prior to departure. We planned to take our
favorite Puerto Vallarta transportation, the local bus and bum around
town. We also planned to go to San Jose del Cabo by bus.

Shipboard Accommodation Planning

Once you have decided on the cruise line and itinerary, the next decision
concerns the actual accommodations to be selected. The range here is again
very large, from suites of more than 3000 square feet (how big is your
house?) to “standard” cabins of about 180 square feet. Obviously the
difference is price. These days the newer ships feature “verandah” cabins
which make up almost half the cabins available. Then there are a variety
of staterooms labeled “suites”; some of which, like Celebrity’s “sky
suites” are little more than larger cabins with added amenities and
features such as butler service, access to spa facilities at a reduced
rate, etc. Many people, like us, enjoy the outside access of a verandah,
where you can sit on a small deck all your own and enjoy the sound and
smell of the ocean for a better “at sea” experience. Others, including a
travel agent I know, book the lowest cost inside cabin on the theory that
they don’t spend much time there, and they can enjoy the rest of the ship
to the same extent as the people in the largest suite. Traditionally the
higher decks are more costly for identical cabins. Very often the costlier
suites are on the upper decks; the Millennium class ships of Celebrity
being an exception with all its expensive suites being located on deck 6.
Most cabins have only showers, and only very expensive suites have double
sinks. Unless you bring an excessive amount of luggage, you will find that
cabins, even the smallest, hold a large amount of clothing, toiletries,
etc. Ships’ architects have long mastered the art of squeezing the maximum
amount of storage space out of every square foot of cabin area. Hotel
architects could learn a lot by observing how ships utilize space. What
about your bags? In most cases they will fit under the bed, but the ship
will store them elsewhere if necessary. For a week we certainly did not
need a suite.
Clothes Planning

This of course leads to the topic of what to pack. The cruise lines will
offer their suggestions, as will the books cited above. However the
season, destination, length of cruise and type of ship control this. Some
lines such as Holland America, Celebrity and Princess tend to more
formality than Carnival or Disney Lines. A new, somewhat upscale line,
Oceania, has no formal nights and neither does the very expensive Seabourn
Line. But no line actually requires formal wear, although they may not
admit passengers to the main dining rooms for dinner in bathing wear,
cut-offs or shorts.

Aside from that, the weather and the destinations basically control what
to bring in the way of clothes. Some ships, including all Princess, but no
Celebrity ships, have self-service laundries, and the Berlitz guide will
tell you which these will be; although if you closely peruse the ships’
layouts in the brochures, you may discover the laundry rooms on your own.
We have managed to cut down on our clothing a lot since our initial
cruises, but we still found that we had brought some items which were
never worn.
Getting to the Ship and Back Home

The next consideration is planning the route to and from the ports of
embarkation and debarkation, which very well may not be the same city. All
cruise lines offer to purchase air fare to and from the cruises for you.
If they do so, they will normally include the transportation between the
airport and the pier both ways. You can purchase your own air tickets, of
course, and you may be able to buy transfers to and from the pier
separately. If you are going round trip from the same city for departure
and return; a common event for Caribbean and Mexican Riviera cruises, you
can probably do better buying your own air tickets, especially if you are
good at internet shopping. Your travel agent may be willing to help if you
have bought the cruise from him or her, even though their commissions
these days on air travel are virtually non-existent. If you are required
to use “open jaw” flights; i.e. leaving from different cities for
embarkation and debarkation, it is a little more complex to get any
savings compared to the cruise lines, who can save money by block booking
on major airlines. [For a good example of pre-cruise flight planning, read
the review of our Celebrity Mercury cruise from Santiago to Buenos Aires
in January 2002 on this website.] However you may end up with weird
routings as we did on our Infinity Hawaii cruise because we felt we should
use Celebrity in order to insure the right connections to Ensenada. You
can vary the departure dates, but the cruise line might charge extra for
this service. Celebrity waives any deviation charges for cruisers who are
members of its Captains Club. If you can do so, always provide extra time,
and for safety’s sake, an extra day in planning your air connection to the
departure city. This is particularly true for us when we fly east to
embark from a Florida port since the time zone difference virtually
requires either a red-eye flight or an overnight stay.
Trip Insurance

Finally, there is the issue of trip insurance. We recommend it, but
suggest that you buy from one of the independent insurers rather than the
cruise line. The basic reason is that insurance you buy from the cruise
line only covers you for services supplied by them. If you fly
independently, take off on shore excursions that you book yourself, or
extend the trip before or after on your own, the cruise line insurance
will not cover you. However, your own carrier will cover all events within
the dates you specify. We have found a firm known as CSA to be responsive
and reasonable. Incidentally, you do not have to insure for all the costs;
but you can pick a figure you would settle for to cover the travel
portion. In other words, you don’t have to add the flight cost to the
cruise cost because you would probably not lose both. The main point is
that with any coverage you get theft insurance, baggage loss, baggage
delay and health coverage. You can even get pre-existing health condition
coverage if you buy a higher priced policy as soon as you book the cruise.
Talk to your travel agent about various policies that are available since
they are commissionable also. It is worth it for peace of mind.

Having said all that, it probably does not apply with as much force for
Alaska and Hawaii cruises, since you are in the United States and both
Medicare and your own health insurance will be available.

Off to Mexico

We did the same thing this year that we had done on our initial Mexican
cruise. Several hotels in San Pedro, the port city for Los Angeles, offer
“cruise packages” in which you pay one night’s hotel stay (at the “rack
rate) and get to leave you vehicle in covered parking for the duration of
the cruise. San Pedro offers parking near the pier, but it runs $11.00 per
day, and they would charge you for both Saturdays or 8 days on this
cruise. If you add that to air fare and airport to pier transfer charges;
our drive from Phoenix to San Pedro and return becomes a bargain as well
as an avoidance of airport hassles. We also found an excellent restaurant,
The Bistro on 6th Street, to have dinner. It was a little walk from the
Holiday Inn where we stayed, but right behind the Sheraton. The hotels
offer shuttle service to the pier.
Embarkation

The pier-side drop-off point for vans was crowded and confused even at
12:00 noon. The documents said that 1:00 was the embarkation time with a
5:00 sail-away. We did find a porter with a cart to take the luggage from
our van group, and I provided him with a tip to inspire actual
transportation of our bags. On entering the Terminal Building we were
given a card with a letter and number and directed to keep it. Our ticket
document envelope was marked “Express Check-In”, and in fact we were
directed to a line in which we were immediately and efficiently checked in
and given our cruise cards. We were then told to wait until our number was
called. The waiting area was quite large, but the number of seats were
very limited, and only sufficient for fewer than half the people waiting.
Edith sat on the floor, but after a while a couple with seats left, and we
grabbed them. By 1:00 the room was very crowded and people were still
arriving to get into long check-in lines. The boarding commenced like
airlines, children and people needing assistance first. Platinum and Elite
card holders, those with 6 or more or 15 or more Princess cruises
respectively, were allowed to enter as soon as they checked in, but we
noted that at all times their check-in line was somewhat lengthy. We were
called shortly before 2:00, went through security, posed for the boarding
picture, and got to our cabin a little after 2:00. We immediately headed
for the buffet for lunch, and joined a goodly number of people for a
respectable meal.
Our Stateroom

Our Cabin number was B 416 on the Baja or 11th Deck. It was a standard
verandah cabin. In size it was very close to the standard cabins on
Celebrity and Carnival, about 180 square feet in the room plus about 35 on
the verandah. This was not nearly as large as our standard verandah cabin
on Zaandam. In addition to the bed there was a reasonably sized desk with
chair, and one side chair with arms. The television was mounted above a
small refrigerator which contained only a water pitcher. There was one
painting opposite the bed. The verandah furniture consisted of two plastic
side chairs and a small table. The bathroom was adequate, but barely. It
was a manufactured unit, meaning it was formed out of molded vinyl plastic
of some sort, not nearly as attractive as the all tile bathrooms on both
HAL and Celebrity. The shower was very small. Edith and I are not
overweight at all, but we envisaged that not a few of our fellow
passengers would have a great deal of difficulty even fitting in much less
maneuvering in these cubicles. The toilet was the noisiest we have ever
encountered, a lour roar followed by a loud bang. The closet as usual
facing opposite the bathroom door, was open, that is, not fitted with
doors of any kind. Given the narrow space between bathroom door and
closet, this was not a bad idea. There also was a cabinet at the end of
the closet space with the safe and shelf space. The door to this cabinet
was a full length mirror. Lighting was good, with swing arm lamps by each
side of the bed. I have never had a problem with a cruise ship bed and
this one was fine also. All in all it was a decent, but not very inspiring
cabin.

The Ship Layout

This is a very large vessel, actually 28% larger than Millennium, the
largest Celebrity ship, and until this trip, the largest we had ever
sailed on. Diamond P is almost twice the size of Zaandam, the vessel of
our most recent trip; and this heightened the contrast. There are 11 decks
for passenger use, not counting the tender exit deck, plus one small deck
constituting level 17, at the aft end of the ship and containing a small
lounge called the Sky Lounge. The Sports Deck 16 is in three sections, the
center section contains a small open lounge area with shuffleboard and two
jacuzzis; the center section a putting green and the forward section a
sports court and jogging track.

The Sun Deck 15 has the Spa, gymnasium and a lap pool forward, the
Conservatory, which is a small area above the covered Calypso Pool on Deck
14, and the Fun Zone for children aft, with a small “Paddling Pool”. The
Lido Deck 14 has cabins forward, the open Neptune Pool, the covered
Calypso Pool and the Horizon Court with its buffet and both indoor and
outdoor tables. There is no Deck 13. Decks 12, 11, 10, 9 and 8; Aloha,
Baja, Caribe, Dolphin and Emerald are all passenger cabin decks except for
a small adults only pool aft on Aloha Deck 12. The far forward portion of
Deck 8 contains a continuation of the promenade starting on Deck 7, and
actually forms the furthest forward portion of the ship, so that when you
look out from that point, there is only ocean below. Deck 7, Promenade
Deck has the theatre forward. This is the main theater entrance and the
seats slope downward with two divisions, but only a slight separation of
seating. Aft of the theater (and the forward elevators/stairwells) is the
Wheelhouse Lounge, a very attractive room with comfortable leather seats
and sofas, dark wood tables and walls, brass lamps, and a generally
relaxing atmosphere. To one side of the lounge is a small room named the
Hearts and Minds Wedding Chapel, which actually functioned as a meeting
room for a variety of activities. Aft of this was the top level of the
center atrium, which held two stores on the port side and a small
“Crooner’s Bar”, with piano, on the starboard side. Then comes the center
elevator banks with stairwells. Aft of this is the Explorer’s Lounge which
can be set up for art auctions and limited shows with a large movie
screen. Aft of this is an area containing the photo displays, a large
internet cafe and Sabatini’s, the specialty restaurant. Then still going
aft (does this give the picture of a big ship) is the Fusion Night Club,
which also has show capabilities. As this description would indicate, Deck
7 was the center of most shipboard activities. Its outside promenade went
completely around the ship with the factoring in of the stair going up to
Deck 8 to complete the forward portion of the circuit. Deck 6 had the
lower portion of the theater forward. Proceeding aft past the first
elevator/stairwell foyer is found the casino, which was out of the normal
traffic flow. Aft of this is the second and principal level of the atrium,
with the Guest Relations desk and other stores. To the rear of this and
the center elevator/stairwell foyer were two of the “anytime dining”
restaurants, the Pacific Moon and Santa Fe. Immediately aft of these
restaurants was the main galley, allowing no passenger access. At the aft
end of this deck was the fixed, traditional seating International Dining
Room. This venue could only be reached by elevators or stairs descending
from Deck 7 (or higher). The aft elevators and stairs do not go below Deck
6. Deck 5 forward contains passenger cabins up to the bottom level of the
atrium which has the excursion desk, library, future cruise office, a
“Writing Room” with laptop connections, a piano in the center of the
atrium, and a small bar. Past the elevators and stairwells are the other
two anytime dining spots, the Sterling American dining room and the
Vivaldi restaurant.

All the stairwells had two side by side banks of stairs; which allowed not
only an easy traffic flow, but provided double wells for art displays.
These were the main sites for ship’s art, and there were many very
attractive paintings in a wide variety of styles. The center elevator
banks had 6 elevators, while the fore and aft banks had four each. These
easily accommodated traffic almost all the time with the usual exception
of tender unloading situations. The center atrium, while not high or wide,
was very attractive with attractive curving staircases, lots of white
marble, brass trim and a generally light and pleasant atmosphere.
Entertainment by pianists, and a gentleman who played violin, guitar and
piano, was provided at the lower level, but the seating for the audience
was very limited. The library was somewhat limited in size for a ship with
this many passengers, over 3000.

We noticed that there was only one meeting room, the “Wedding Chapel“; and
no true motion picture theater. Diamond Princess is unique among all the
ships we have taken in that there is no forward looking lounge like the
“Crow’s Nest” on HAL‘s ships, and similar venues on Celebrity and others.
Perhaps to compensate there are two rear facing lounges, one at the very
top, and another small lounge looking backwards from Deck 6, behind the
International Dining Room and reachable only by a circular staircase
leading down from a corner of the Fusion Lounge. I would wager very few of
the passengers knew that the “Wake View” bar even existed. I should note
at this point that I never rely on the small ship’s guides provided on
board. I cut out one of the large colored deck plans from the cruise line
brochure featuring the ship we are sailing on and use that to locate
everything and find my way around.

Typically, the ship was spotless, and we were aware of continual corridor
and public area cleaning crews maintaining this status. The carpeting was
somewhat varied in color, and the walls neutral, with little decoration.
The wood paneling in the stairwells and along public corridors was medium
mahogany in color, but probably stained pine.

Princess is reasonably generous in providing public restrooms, usually
close to the elevators. One cannot say that this is a poorly fitted out
vessel; but compared to many others it is certainly not outstanding or
especially appealing. The design effort seems to have been put in getting
as many passengers on board, and getting them to revenue generating
lounges; rather than in creating a comfortable environment with
conveniences such as meeting rooms, a movie theater or places to just sit
and enjoy the ocean.

The Dining Experience

This was the area of our greatest disappointment. We had asked for
traditional early seating. The ship’s card showed “Anytime Dining”. We
went to the Maitre'd as soon as we boarded in an attempt to change this,
and were told that we were number 75 in a waiting list of 595 for early
fixed seating in the International Dining Room. This alone should tell
Princess something. The International Dining Room may be a little larger
than each of the anytime dining rooms, but not by much. We did enjoy two
lunches there, so we at least got to see it. This left us with the task of
making reservations for each night. Initially we could only reserve for
the first two nights, but then were free to make reservations for the rest
of the cruise. The menus worked this way. Each anytime venue had its own
area of specialty, with a fixed menu for this specialty which was
unchanged throughout the week. However all dining rooms shared the
International Dining room general menu, which was the same as one found in
any “normal” main dining room. The problem for us was that under this
system we did not have a regular table with the same table companions and
the same waiter and assistant. For us this is one of the main pleasures of
cruising. In addition, although we requested to be seated with others at
the anytime venues, this request was never able to be honored. We could
carry on some conversation with a table near us on occasion, but this was
not nearly as satisfactory as regular seating. On the one evening when we
went to Sabatini’s, the specialty restaurant, we were fortunate enough to
be able to carry on a regular conversation with the delightful couple next
to us, helped by the fact that we all were seated at the same time and the
very amusing waiter could and did treat us as a single table for orders
and service. I imagine that if people are traveling in a group, and are
able to make table reservations for the group, this is not an issue, but
for us it diminished our normal cruising pleasure to a marked degree. We
did not enjoy the “Freestyle” dining on NCL’s Norwegian Sun either.

The Horizon Court Buffet set up was good when there was no crowding. The
arrangement had the usual two buffet areas, one on the port, the other on
the starboard side. Each area had stations along the back wall, and island
station, and stations towards the seating area. This allowed the service
of a wide variety of foods,

but with people wandering loosely rather than remaining in one line;
things could get confused if there were a number of people trying to eat.
In addition, Princess does not use trays in the buffet, but hands you a
single large plastic plate with utensils wrapped in a napkin. Smaller
plates and bowls are provided at some stations, but the balancing act can
be tricky if you try to get a whole meal in one trip. If you do not, and
have to return for items, you had better have your table companion stand
guard lest you lose either your seat or your utensils or both. That being
said, the breakfast buffet offerings were as extensive as we had ever
seen, and the food was usually hot, or at least warm. The lunch buffets
also had a good variety of food, which, if not exactly gourmet, was fairly
decent. The servers and attendants in the buffet area were quite pleasant.

We had mixed feelings concerning the dinner meals. The Sabatini Restaurant
experience was well worth the extra $20.00; both food and service being
outstanding, the venue very pleasant with live music, and the atmosphere
relaxed and comfortable.

We went to the Pacific Moon Dining Room 3 times, despite the fact that the
Chinese duck which I had in our first visit was not very good. We managed
to have the same waiter, Robert from Hungary, all three times. The first
night I asked him if he was from Budapest. He said “No”. The next time I
asked him what he had against Budapest, we had been there, and thought it
was a nice town. This got him to laugh. The third night, when another
waiter led us to our table and Robert was there, I told the other waiter.
“We know Robert. He’s a nice guy, except that he got thrown out of Buda
first and then thrown out of Pest”. This really amused him. This
relationship with Robert, although not the same as it would have been if
he had been our regular waiter for the entire cruise, made up a little bit
for our loss of assigned seats. We enjoyed the sushi at the Pacific Moon,
and the rest of the meals after the first. Our final meal at the Sterling
was a disappointment for me. This is supposed to be an American
experience, and I thought that I might get a filet mignon. No such luck.
Only roast beef, a t-bone steak or pork chops were offered. I opted for
the roast beef and it came in the form of a very large hunk, fairly tough,
and with little flavor. The other meals were very good, without being
outstanding. The dessert selection is somewhat limited, and we missed the
waiter bringing us the tray of desserts to look at before we had to choose
as they do in many fine restaurants and on Celebrity ships. We noticed
also that the wait staff was spread a little thin, with Robert having to
handle 20 people at 4 tables for two and two tables with six each. This
made service a little rushed. There was a complete lack of any personal
touch to the service at the other three anytime restaurants.

Edith dines off the vegetarian menu, and was thought the selections and
preparation were quite good and much better than on Holland American.

Princess does not do “midnight buffets” or special buffets. The Horizon
Court is open 24 hours a day with food, and there were three “themed”
buffets, Mexican, Italian and Oriental.

We did order room service once; a breakfast on the Puerto Vallarta day
because we had no need to leave the ship for a planned tour. We did
however ask for the earliest

serving time which was 7:30. The selection was made via a card left in the
room every day, and while it was somewhat limited, provided the basics. It
arrived on time and was reasonably warm. We ate on the balcony overlooking
the city, and it was quite pleasant.

Entertainment

Princess is unique in a few ways. Their revue shows are owned and staged
by them, not set up by independent companies. Royal Caribbean is the only
other line to do that. Additionally, Princess repeats the revue shows
during the cruise, which makes the passenger’s scheduling a lot easier.
The Explorer’s Lounge was used for one review show and one classical
guitar concert, which was no bad, but a little short. The Cruise Director,
Chris Nichol, actually sang at one main theater show. We preferred his
singing to his rah-rah approach to everything else. The singers and
dancers presented two shows, one of which, Piano Man, was very good, and
the other, Under Cover, not bad at all. In Puerto Vallarta they flew on
Tony Tillman for one show. He is a singer comedian, and really was
extremely entertaining. Even Edith liked him and she does not enjoy
comedians. There also was a magician-comedian, Lorenzo Clark, who was
enjoyable. As usual, the music was loud, but when we went back to see
Piano Man the second time, we sat further back in the theater, and it was
better. When I went, as I always do, on the backstage tour, the lead
dancer said he had done Piano Man at least 120 times, so it is not
surprising that it was very well done. The theater is as up to date in
technology as can be imagined, and a very nice venue. There is not too
much drink hustling before the shows, and the theater style seating does
not allow for waiters moving down the rows too easily. All in all we would
have to rate the entertainment as among the better offerings we have
enjoyed.

Sea Days

We like sea days. Princess’ activities were better than on either HAL
cruise, but not as good as Celebrity. We think the Princess Patter, the
daily activity sheet, is very poorly done and has gaps in its information.
For example, we very much liked the musicians appearing in the atrium, but
neither their names or show times were provided. There was no world news
sheet provided as on Celebrity. Although we were normally within range of
CNN satellite news, this is not really convenient because of the lack of
information concerning the timing and contents of their broadcasts. There
are an abundance of lounge chairs, some with good padding, all around the
ship, and the promenade on Decks 7 and 8 is a delight, although the
decking is not real teak. As I noted in the description of the ship, there
are a number of pools and jacuzzis, although the somewhat low air
temperatures on our sea days meant it was only the jacuzzis that got much
use.

Princess’ internet policy should be followed by every cruise line. It is a
simple $0.35
per minute charge with no “package” purchase required. I used it twice,
and when I had a connection problem the second time and had to switch
machines, I had no difficulty in getting a refund from Guest Relations.

Edith reported that the cooking demonstration involved a complete kitchen
setup on the main theater stage, and that it was well done. She skipped
the galley tour and since the theater, which holds 750 people, was full
for this demonstration and they all trooped back through the ship to see
the galley, she did not miss much. If you have seen one ship’s galley, you
pretty much have seen them all.
Our Land Tours

We have spent time in Puerto Vallarta before. We love to take the city
buses, which are old, have no padding on the seats, require you to grab
hold of something as soon as you get on because they take off with a quick
jump and never slow down, and come by every two minutes it seems. They now
cost 4 pesos, when they were 3 pesos four years ago. But the peso on this
trip was at 11.l0 posted, and 11.23 through my ATM purchase; so a bus ride
costs $0.36 which is worth it in entertainment alone, never mind the truly
rapid transit. All the many Americans who make PV their home ride the
local buses, at least up to 10:00 P.M. when they stop. We rode downtown
and strolled around for a while. We stopped in at Galleria Uno, which is
partly owned by a lady who is my former boss’s (we are now both retired)
cousin. We missed her this trip, but the art is certainly first class and
worth seeing. The Malecon (boardwalk along the Banderas Bay) was as
beautiful as ever. We had coffee at a restaurant looking out over it and
the bay. We then went down to the island in the river separating the more
tourist, (northern) part of the city from the old city. There a two or
three good places to eat here and we had lunch at the River Restaurant
where the hostess was from Connecticut. It was a delightful lunch under a
covered patio by the river, and quite reasonable. Edith had earlier
acquired a piece of costume jewelry, a ring, which had zircon insets. A
few of the zircons were missing, and she wanted to replace them. We went
to Diamonds International to inquire, knowing that they probably would not
want to admit that zircons even exist, much less carry them. One of the
salesman however, when asked if anyone had them, told us of a place which
could do the work, and located it on our ships shopping tour map. It was
in the old town, and we could not find it immediately. I went into a
fairly large store and asked in my best high school Spanish: “Conoce usted
una tendia llamada Diamante Azul?”, and showed him the map. He said ;“Yes,
and do want me to give you directions in Spanish or English?” He then also
said it was a fine place that had done his wedding ring. When we got there
the young man behind the counter spoke no English, but Edith was able to
get her message across. At first he said to come back the next day, but
when we told him we were leaving “este dia”; he said “Veinte minutos”. We
agreed to come back in 20 minutes and walked around town for a while. We
saw a sign reading “The Book Store” and went in to find an American and
his stock of English language books. He had been coming down to Puerto
Vallarta for many years and had moved down and opened his store about two
years ago. We returned to Diamante Azul, picked up the ring and went on
our way. Our visit to Puerto Vallarta was a delight and a success.

The next day we arrived in Mazatlan. We had signed up for the estuary bird
watching expedition. The pier had a number of people in bright green
jackets working for the various tour companies. One of them told us to
follow him through the pier side bazaar and to a waiting area. There we
waited again for the rest of our group, When they showed up it turned out
that eight of them were Russians from the Stockton area in California and
six were from southern California; but none were from our ship. They all
were passengers on Royal Caribbean’s Vision of the Seas which was docked
immediately behind Diamond Princess. In any event we shortly boarded a
small boat which had a roof, but was otherwise open. We traveled up the
estuary, or perhaps down, since it was in a southerly direction observing
the local birds. There were pelicans everywhere and the beautiful frigate
bird. After we left the port area we sailed along the mangrove groves
which formed the shoreline, and saw many wading birds.

The guide was a little difficult to understand when he used the boat’s PA
system, but close to shore he spoke without it to avoid alarming the
birds, and was more intelligible.

We landed on the island which forms the western, or Pacific side of the
estuary. It is called Stone Island (Isla Pierda) and is owned as a
cooperative by the families living there. They raise coconuts, maintaining
extensive coconut palm orchards everywhere.

After about a half hour trip in a bus back towards the port, we stopped at
a seaside restaurant and were fed. There were a number of other tours
there, and if I had thought, I would have worn my bathing suit and gone
swimming in the ocean. Horses were also available for rental. At about
3:00 we took a short trip back to the port area where our boat awaited us,
and we made a quick trip across the harbor to our ship. We would have had
time for a quick trip to the Old City which is virtually adjacent to the
pier, but were a little weary. All in all it was an enjoyable 6 hour
adventure for the fairly reasonable price of $79.00 per person.

Our next stop was Cabo San Lucas. This is a tender port, although we were
told that a pier will be constructed for cruise ships since so many stop
there. Our time there was limited, and Edith awoke not feeling too well.
However she perked up and we followed our original plan to go to San Jose
del Cabo, a town about 20 miles east of Cabo San Lucas across the base of
the Baja peninsula. Again we took a local bus, which was a pretty good
normal city bus, although crowded. We could not get a seat together until
the ride was half over. By the Edith had engaged an American couple in
conversation. They spend a week each year in “Los Cabos“, a generic
nickname for the whole southern end of the peninsula. En route we passed a
number of high end resorts, and more are under construction. We goy off
the bus in San Jose del Cabo, with directions on how to get to the center
of town. It was about a mile walk through an area which was not a tourist
area. The stores clearly were for the locals. It is a clean and pleasant
town. The center, when we reached it, had some more tourist type stores,
and an office for condo sales manned by at least one American, a salesman
form New Jersey who has lived there ten years. There are some very high
priced properties, but also a selection of places which are quite
affordable by the standards of most Americans. Los Cabos is more expensive
than most of Mexico, but nowhere nearly as costly as Maui, for example, or
Grand Cayman, or California. We caught the bus back easily and were back
on board about 1:00 for a 2:00 P.M. sailing.
Debarkation

After one more sea day we arrived in San Pedro. Debarkation was very slow.
We waited, first in our room, and then in the atrium, until almost 10:00
before our number and baggage bag tag color was called. The line through
immigration was also slow, but faster for US citizens than non-citizens.
The immigration inspector asked what I did for a living and for my birth
date. He then asked Edith why she had been born in Germany. This was the
first time we had ever been questioned on re-entry into the US.

We finally made it to the outside curb about 11:00 and waited about 20
minutes for our shuttle. The drive home was uneventful.

Miscellaneous Observations

Since we had no regular seating, we had no table photographs taken. The
one formal shot was on entering the Captain’s reception, and it was not
bad; but the boarding photo was so good we purchased that one.
The Crew

Our room steward introduced himself the first day, and was very efficient.
We had to ask for bathrobes as they are not provided except on request.
The front desk staff was very pleasant. When we went to the library on
embarkation it was staffed by one of the Cruise Director’s staff, and she
was very pleasant. But thereafter no one was in attendance, and Princess
simply trusts you to return the books; there is no check out.

Tipping is automatic at the rate of $10.00 per person per day added to
your shipboard account. They had started this policy by the time we made
our first cruise with them to Alaska in May, 2002; so it came as no
surprise. You can make adjustments at guest relations if you wish. But
with anytime dining, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to reward
special dining service.

Security was not very evident except at ports. The crew members you would
see in the hallways usually nodded and smiled hello. We are pretty well
organized on our travels by now, and don’t require much in the way of
special service, so we really do not have a great deal of information on
this aspect of the cruise.

Overall Evaluation

Well, as Edith just said when I told her where I was in this review; “It
was all right”. If this is damning with faint praise; perhaps we were a
trifle unjust. Diamond Princess is a nice new ship. It is clean and well
taken care of. The crew is very pleasant and the food mostly very good.
The itinerary is not the most exiting, but I believe most people, like us,
look on this as a cruise for relaxation, not adventure, and it does
provide relaxation with three sea days. Our main problem was in not
securing traditional fixed seating. We will not sail on a cruise without
fixed seating unless there is no choice. We have to do this for our next
cruise on Oceania’s Insignia. But this is an adventure cruise, starting in
Manaus, Brazil and proceeding down the Amazon, out the Atlantic to Devil’s
Island, the Venezuela coast and Tobago, and then debarking in Barbados.
Insignia has only 650 passengers, so we expect to find a few people to
dine with on a more or less regular basis. But on any large cruise ship,
we want to have the sociability of the same group of dinner companions to
share the doings of the day and the plans for the next day.

The entertainment was good, both as to the main theater venue and the
shows provided. The provision of news both as to shipboard and world
events was poor, and there were too many bingo announcements. The one
ship’s tour we took was quite good, and reasonable; but I suppose you have
to be interested in wildlife and birds to appreciate it. We thought that
our cabin was fairly nice, but I would have liked another chair for
reading. The bathroom was okay, but the shower very small as we noted. We
did not believe that the ship’s layout was the best since so much of the
activity was centered on Deck 7. We were usually pretty smart at timing
our buffet visits so we were able to serve ourselves and sit down, but
there were a couple of times that we were wandering around with plates
full of rapidly cooling food before we found seats. This is simply a
factor of having 3000 people on board, and we prefer small ships for this
reason.

Would we do this cruise again? Well, it was our second Mexican Riviera
cruise, so the answer is - probably not. There are a number of other
cruises we have either scheduled or are considering, and if we want to see
this part of the world again, it is pretty easy to do by a simple flight
down the coast to any number of good places to stay at fairly reasonable
prices. Would we recommend Diamond Princess? We think there may be better
choices, although the price was very reasonable - less than $1,000.000 per
person for a verandah cabin. If you are traveling with a group and thus
able to make full table dinner arrangements at all of the anytime dining
venues, then this would eliminate our major disappointment with this
cruise. Or, you can be sure that you get traditional seating by booking
very early. If you can book a larger verandah suite it might be better,
although the Caribe and Dolphin Deck verandahs extend out to get their
larger size, and thus are open to be seen from our Baja Deck verandahs.

In any event, if you go, book one dinner in the Sabatini Restuarant, even
if you have traditional seating.

And, of course, you can follow the example of the lady in Cabo San Lucas.
When asked by another passenger on the return tender if she had had a good
day; she replied, “Well, it was fine until I hit a wave wrong and fell off
my jet ski. They had to come rescue me”. The other passenger replied; “Oh,
and pardon me madam, but how old are you”? She answered; “84”.